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Book Design 101

Book design is that under-appreciated step of the publishing process that can make or break a book. A book's cover is going to determine whether the book gets picked up in a book store, or clicked upon on Amazon. A book's interior design — or typesetting — will not affect purchasing decisions, however it will deeply and subliminally influence the reading experience throughout the whole book.

A book is a simple object, but designing and producing a professionally looking one is a complex task. It's not all up to the author, of course: there are professional designers for that; however, whether you're self-publishing or working with a publisher, you should know at least the basics of the design process. Not just for curiosity, but because the design decisions your team will take will influence the rest of your career. You want to be a part of these decisions.

What you'll learn in this course:

How to get the most out of a professional cover designer

How books are structured (front, body, back matter)

What typesetting is and how you can DIY typeset your book

How to use the Van de Graaf canon to determine margins

How to produce the different formats you'll need for distribution

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Brought to you by:

Emmanuel is a Founder and CEO of Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers and marketers. Emmanuel dedicates most of his time to building Reedsy’s product and is interested in how technology can transform cultural industries. He's one of the main thinkers behind Reedsy's Book Editor, which allows any author to produce a professionally typeset book in a matter of minutes.

Enroll on this free course today

Course details

Duration: 10 lessons

Time: 5 minutes / day

Already a Reedsy Learning student? You can subscribe to a new course by opening up any previous Reedsy Learning email. Scroll to the bottom of the email and click on "update your preferences" to choose a new course.

So how does it work?

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